Bsa1917hunter: I have 5 (five) Pre-64 Winchester Model 70 "Westerners" - 2 (two) are Featherweight Westerners and the other 3 (three) are Standard Weight Westerners.
I do "like" them to the extreme (love'em!) but indeed I do not shoot any of these collector quality (minty!) Rifles.
It took me decades to accumulate this little trove of dandies and I wish, along the way, I would have bought one of the many lesser condition 264's I found and passed on.
I have shot several 264's way back when and have seen Deer and Antelope harvested with them - I would "like" to find a user quality pre-64 Model in 264 to wring out and do a little Hunting with.
One of my uncles had a pre-64 Model 70 and shot lots of Mule Deer in eastern Oregon way back when.
I was with him one summer when we went Rock Chuck Hunting and what that 264 did to Rock Chucks (made'em fly!) was something to behold!
Out of curiosity I looked up the production numbers for the pre-64 Winchester Model 70's in caliber 264 Winchester and the total production (all models) was only 21,114 or 4% of the total made.
Long live "the Riflemans Rifle"!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
